This invention relates to image analyzers. More particularly, it involves a pipeline of neighborhood serial transformation stages for analyzing image data.
In commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,728 to Sternberg, there is disclosed a new class of special purpose computers for implementing pattern recognition and analyses. The system includes a chain or pipeline of serial neighborhood transformation modules or stages. Each stage includes a neighborhood extraction portion for sequentially accessing an array of neighboring pixels in the image, the image being represented by a serial stream of digital pixel values corresponding to a matrix of points in the image. Neighborhood transformation logic generates a tranformation output to the next stage depending upon the pixel values contained in the neighborhood extraction portion. The transformed data is a function of the value of the equivalent data point in the input image matrix and the values of the neighboring pixels in the image. The nature of the transformation performed by each of the processing stages may be modified under control of a central programmable unit which communicates with each stage. In the embodiment disclosed in this patent the output of the last stage of the pipeline was coupled to a utilization device such as a display for displaying the transformed matrix.
The present invention is directed to techniques for increasing the image processing capabilities of such a system. Other aspects of the invention are directed to using at least one of the serial neighborhood processing stages to analyze multiple frames of image pixel data.